I was browsing Pinterest the other day, looking for something tasty yet still relatively healthy to make for dinner.  I came across THIS POST, and knew that I wanted to cook it – I love chicken and I love peanut butter!  The route to the actual site where the recipe came from was a bit long, but I eventually find it on Averie Cooks.  It was a slow-cooker recipe, but I decided to make it in the oven rather, as it would cut down on cooking time.

I printed out the recipe, but I’ve tweaked it to suit us and make it as healthy as I could, while still getting the full taste.  I also used chicken thighs with the skin on, rather than boneless, skinless chicken breasts – our family just love our chicken thighs!  I only have one regret – I wish I’d added in some fresh chilli for the heat and flavour it would give the dish.  There’s always next time though!

Thai Peanut Chicken

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 12 chicken thighs with skin on
• 1/3 cup cornflour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper, or to taste
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder, or to taste
• 1 can lite coconut milk
• 1/2 cup crunchy peanut butter
• 1/4 cup low-sodium soy sauce
• 1/4 cup honey
• 2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
• 2 tablespoons lime juice
• 1 teaspoon coconut oil
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger, or to taste
• 2 garlic cloves, finely minced
• 1/2 cayenne pepper, optional and to taste
• lightly salted peanuts, finely chopped for garnishing
• 2 tablespoons green onions sliced thin, optional for garnishing
• baby spinach leaves to garnish

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 180 degrees centigrade.  Pour the olive oil into a pan and heat.

In a small bowl, mix the cornflour, salt, pepper and garlic powder with a whisk.

Toss the chicken thighs in the cornflour and spice mixture, and brown on either side in the pan.  Once browned, place all of the chicken thighs in a baking dish.

Mix the lite coconut milk, peanut butter, soy sauce, honey, vinegar, lime juice, coconut oil, ginger, garlic and cayenne pepper until a smooth sauce.  If the peanut butter isn’t mixing well into the other ingredients, you can pop it in the microwave for a couple of seconds, just make sure you’ve used a microwave-friendly bowl.

Pour the sauce over the chicken thighs so that all of them are well coated, sprinkle a few salted peanuts over the top, and bake for 35 minutes, or until cooked through.

Sprinkle chopped green onions and more salted peanuts over the top.  I served it with brown basmati rice, as it’s just a bit healthier, but you can use whatever you like, regular rice, pasta or even mash.  I added some baby spinach leaves just for an extra health boost – I’m trying to include more leafy greens and foods rich in iron in my diet.

P.s. This sauce would be divine drizzled over steamed veggies too – especially broccoli.  

Do you like peanut butter?  I think it’s a love/hate food, and I absolutely LOVE it!